An ultrathin carbon layer activated CeO2 heterojunction nanorods for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants

Designing and constructing effective and stable photocatalysts is the major challenge in the development of photocatalysis. Herein, we demonstrate a conceptual strategy to effectively improve the charge separation in a ternary material system (CeO2/C/SnS2), by introducing ultrathin carbon layer between CeO2 nanorods and SnS2 particles as a conductive electron transport “highway”. Such ternary CeO2/C/SnS2 gives rise to a largely enhanced photocatalytic removal performance of phenol (100%, 60 min), comparing with CeO2/SnS2 (50%) and CeO2 (20%). Experimental results reveal that carbon layer acts as a high work function, superior electron mobility accepts and enables a fast transportation, accelerating the photocatalytic degradation performance of phenol. Our design introduces material components to provide a dedicated charge-transport pathway, conquering the materials’ intrinsic properties, providing a new perspective for water purity.